Samwu dismisses rival’s wage bid

THE BIGGEST trade union in the local government sector has dismissed its rival’s bid to force hundreds of thousands of municipal workers to accept the offer to increase salaries by 7%.

The SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), which represents 159 000 of the 280 000 employees, dismissed the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union’s (Imatu) bid to ask a mediator to enforce the 7% wage increase offer proposed by facilitator Moe Ally.

Samwu general secretary Simon Mathe said Imatu did not have the powers to do this, as it was not the major union in the sector.

According to Mathe, the unions and the employers’ representative body, the SA Local Government Association (Salga), will face off at the SA Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) at the end of the month.

This week, Imatu announced it had referred a dispute to the SALGBC for conciliation and that Salga and Samwu have been cited as respondents.

Imatu is unhappy with Salga’s withdrawal of its acceptance of the facilitator’s 7% salary increase offer to the SALGBC and Samwu’s rejection of Ally’s proposal.

Imatu is demanding the facilitator’s 7% offer be implemented, after it and Salga accepted it.

Mathe said Samwu members want salary increases between 8% and 10%, unless there is a fresh mandate. He warned that should the mediation not succeed, there could be a strike.

Should the upcoming conciliation not yield any positive results, a certificate of non-resolution will be issued and this will entitle Samwu to embark on a strike after serving a formal seven-day notice.

Salga has already told municipalities that strike management guidelines will apply in the event the salary dispute gets escalated.

“None of the employees designated essential services will be allowed to participate in any industrial action,” said Salga chief executive Xolile George.

The protracted talks started in September.